Exclusive! Bobby Deol: I tried to revive my career with different kinds of roles

A great actor loves to experiment with a lot of different characters and films. Bobby Deol is one of those stars. He’s played versatile roles across movies and web series - be it a comedy character in Yamala Pagla Deewana or an antagonist in Aashram.

Now, the actor is gearing up to be seen in a rugged look in ZEE5’s romantic crime thriller Love Hostel which also stars Sanya Malhotra and Vikrant Massey. The forthcoming movie is inspired by stories of honour killings from across the country. It also deals with important societal issues.

In a recent chat with OTTplay, the actor talked about his experience of working with the cast and crew of Love Hostel. Deol also spoke about his upcoming projects and about his career’s revival, thanks to OTT projects. 

Excerpts from the conversation below:

You play an assassin in Love Hostel. But can we expect more layers to your character in the film?

The trailer is just a teaser. It tells you what you will see about these characters. So I think when you see the movie you will see exactly when the characters open in front of your eyes and how the story moves, you get to know exactly what is going to happen.

It's your second collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies entertainments after Class of 83. Was this one of the factors to take up the project?

It's nothing like that. I mean, every actor looks for characters, which are interesting and intriguing to play. Shah Rukh is a sweetheart. I mean, he gave me my first role in the film Class of 83. And it was such an interesting character that I had to say yes to it because I was trying to do something different. And then again, they came to me and offered me this interesting character and a great project. So I said, yes. I'm was grateful to them for believing in me as an actor. And I like everything about this project. So, I was really happy to do it.

You've played an assassin/contract killer in Bicchoo and Badal, how would you differentiate your Dagar with those two roles? Any traits that you tried to incorporate from those two characters in this film?

It's nothing similar between any of those characters. It wasn't anything similar even between Badal and Bicchoo. Here, I found that I was just playing a character, which was so different that I had to really read the scripts or the lines and really get myself into feeling the character. And there was a lot that went into this character because I had to speak in a Haryanvi accent, and had to do a lot of workshops for that. The whole look was worked on by Shankar. It was his idea that the look should be the way he wanted it. I'll just keep growing my beard, keep it on and let it have the grey shade. So, at the end of the day, that's how I looked. And my character always used to have tambaakoo (chewing tobacco) in his mouth, so I had to keep a piece of cotton inside my mouth. And that goes really well with the character because my character is very cool, calm, and collective. He knows exactly what he wants to do and nothing has come in his way to stop him from doing it.

How was the energy on the set with you being the senior actor? Were there any takeaways from Sanya and Vikrant, as they are relatively newer in the industry?

Well, it was great fun on the set. Both of them have so much respect for me. I forgot that I was a senior on the set. But whenever they would come and meet me and call me Sir, it was really sweet. And I still remember the first day when I was in my hotel, there was a knock on my door and Sanya and Vikrant walked in as they wanted to meet and say hello to me. They said, "We've grown up watching your movies." They were so sweet and it was really overwhelming. They are such lovely people to work with. They are so down to earth, so humble. That's why they are such good actors, they are so passionate about their work.

And It was so great as the Red Chillies' team, Drishyam's team, my director Shankar Raman, everybody was so involved in making the film. So I enjoyed every moment on the set.

Is Love Hostel inspired by real-life stories of honour killings? And does it come as a cultural shock for you when you hear about this type of news?

I don't think it's a cultural shock to anybody living in this country unless you are totally unaware of what's happening. It is just that it is a fictionalized version of what happens around us in our society because movies are usually scripted from what's happening around us in society. That's how we end up writing scripts. So I think it's a great way to make people aware of what's happening and to let them know also, that this is how it is. Red Chillies and Drishyam Films are such responsible filmmakers, they did try to do good cinema. And that's why I was really happy to be a part of it.

How has life changed for you after you forayed into the OTT space with Aashram?

Well, I started with Class of 83, with Red Chillies. And people appreciated my work in Class of 83. After one week, Aashram came and it became a phenomenon. The show just crossed all boundaries and became such a huge, huge success, which I thank God for and Prakash Ji and MX Player. It was just amazing how well Prakash Ji has made that show, and all the actors I worked with, they were just so awesome. So things just happened. I was trying to revive my career, I was trying to do different kinds of roles. And I think when you really work hard, you can just change your destiny, in many ways. And you can just feel that energy coming from everywhere and people start appreciating your work and it just encourages you to do more and more different kinds of work. So after Ashram, I was looking for something different when Love Hostel came my way, which I was so excited about. It's also a negative role but totally different from my character in Ashram. So I think, things just happen. Sometimes luck favours you, sometimes your hard work favours you. So I just thank God for it.

Tell us about the developments of Aashram 3. When can the viewers expect the final season to be out?

Well, it's not actually Aashram 3, that's the confusing part. Because when season one came out, it was chapter one of season one and they arrived at chapter two of season one. People are not used to that kind of portrayal of how the series are being made. So they are confused and they think season three is actually season two, maybe chapter three. But it got delayed because of Corona and actually, the whole filming of every project in our industry got delayed. It should come out in the middle of the year. And I don't know exact dates, but once it comes close to it, you'll definitely get to know because I know a lot of people are excited and waiting eagerly for the show.

The theatres have opened now but Love Hostel is coming on OTT. Are there any specific reasons and do you think that it eases the pressure of box office performance?

It's a producer's call where they want to release it. The scenario of cinemas is still so uncertain because no one knows, will there be a fourth wave or something happening where the government will decide about how many people can go watch or maybe complete lockdown. So there's a lot of maturity about these things. So I think the safest bet is to release it on the OTT platform.

You started off as a promising star in the late 90s and maintained it in the early 2000s. But do you feel there have been times when you have not gotten the opportunities that you deserved? It was also said that a lot of your projects didn't even take off.

It's nothing like that. Stories get made on the internet, people start speaking about people that you don't know the reality behind them. It's just that you can't control things that are not in your hands. And I didn't stop working until the early 2000s and I was working till the end of 2000s and I was still working, It's not that I stopped working. It's just that my projects were not successful or spoken about. But yes, there were three years where I didn't work and it was a difficult period. I think every actor goes through ups and downs, I've seen that happening. And it's very difficult to get back if you stopped believing in yourself. And I think there's something I had done for those three years. But then I started believing in myself again and hard work always pays off. That's what I've learned from my own experience. So I think I'm in a great space and a good phase of my career right now. And I'm just gonna keep on and on and keep working hard and doing the best that I can.

So being an actor from the 90s, what are the challenges you face in today's OTT world?

Challenges are the same. Getting good work is always going to be a challenge. Because you might think, on OTTplatform you get more opportunities. Yes, you get more opportunities but then there are a lot of other people who are waiting for those opportunities. So there are a lot of actors out there who are now getting the opportunity to showcase their work on the platform. But there's always going to be this struggle, this challenge to get good work. Also, that's part of being an actor. You just gotta keep trying to do the best or get the best work you can get.

How do you process failure?

Well, I've done that now. Processed that and now I'm here sitting and talking to you. I've been kind of doing pretty decently on the OTT platforms, so I'm really happy. I don't think back about my regrets and dwell on it. I went through it. I have spoken about it many times. I just believe that the best lesson in life is the lesson that you get from your failure and the mistakes you make. And I think if you can understand from that, you can really move forward. That's the advice I give everybody.

Your movie, Gupt, is one of the most loved psychological thrillers till date. It has redefined the genre across the world and it is clocking 25 years this year. Any fond memories about the film and did you anticipate it will achieve cult status?

At that point, you don't know about these things when you're doing a film. You don't know what is going to be the outcome or the end result of the film. But I knew that Rajiv Rai was so dedicated to his work. The music of that film was just amazing. I had been hearing the songs and I was like, wow, every song is better than the other. And then the way he shot the songs and the scenes and the locations we went to. It was just so big, the way he made that film. And I still have fond memories from that shoot. I got to know Rajiv Rai (director) and Shabbir Boxwala (producer) from those days, then working with Kajol for the first time and Manisha. It was really nice because we were all starting our careers at that point and everybody was full of energy and spending time after work. When we were outdoors, chilling with each other. Rajiv and Shabbir became really good friends of mine. And then doing the song Duniya Haseeno ka Mela is so memorable. That was the first time I was going to be doing such a dance number and I used to rehearse before every shot. I don't know how many times I used to be drenched in sweat. I had to get like 10 pairs of jeans because I was wearing black jeans and T-shirts so that I could keep changing them because I kept sweating because it was so hot, there was no air conditioning at that time in studios. So it was a great experience and that song was short and it became a cult song till date. Memes are made about it. So, it was just a pleasure doing that film, it was something I'll always cherish all my life. I still remember going to Liberty cinema to watch the film and the way people were reacting to it. It was just unbelievable. The whole craze about coming out of the theatres and shouting that Kajol is the killer. Luckily, there were no mobile phones in those days, otherwise, people would have known about who the killer is pretty much before most of them have even watched it. So it was an amazing experience.

Please tell us about your future projects.

Now, I will be shooting for Animal, a film which is being directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga and it has Ranbir Kapoor, who I'm going to work with for the first time and then Anil Kapoor, who I love working with. I worked with him in Race 3. That man doesn't grow old, he's so young. It's always fun being on set with him, he's full of energy and then will be working with Parineeti for the first time. So I'm really excited about it. Then we are working on the script of Apne 2. So hopefully, by the end of the year, we'll be starting Apne 2 and again looking forward to working with my dad, my brother, and for the first time with my nephew Karan (Deol).

You mentioned Karan, your nephew, who debuted in 2019. When can we expect your son, Aryaman, to enter Bollywood?

My son is completing his education right now. He has another two years to finish his education. And after that, whatever you decide to do it's up to him. He is a student of business management and I wish him the best. I'm sure my fans would love to see him on the screen. As a father, I would love to see him on the screen. But I think education is a very important part of a child. When you grow up to try to choose a profession and things don't work out, at least you are educated enough to fall back on something else.